As lead writer on EarthLink’s award-winning 1999 Annual Report, I jumped into the development process with only a few months to spare. Working closely with the head of creative services, the Editorial Director, Creative Director and Lead Designer, we came up with several conceptual approaches, the winner being “Building”. This was apropos, as Earthlink was only just merging with MindSpring in early 2000. As a result of the imminent merger, the entire Annual Report “construction” project was delayed until only weeks before we had to go to print; thus we were conducting interviews night and day by phone with Mindspring executives in Atlanta and in person with Earthlink execs in Pasadena. Our creative team worked 24/7 three weeks in a row, writing, rewriting and designing on an almost impossible deadline. The result was an exhilirating, in-depth exploration of our corporate philosophy on the fly, the necessity for precision teamwork and great esprit de corps, and a passionately designed and written final book which explified the tough, youthful aggressive approach to problem-solving that defined the New Earthlink. View samples »
— Lauri Maerov